Saving and retrieving locations of objects

• US 9,875,322 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2015
• Issued: 01/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Joshi, Ajay
• Primary Examiner(s): Dang, Thanh-Ha
• Application Number:
  US14/620,246
• Publication Number:
  US 20160034600A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,076 Days
• Field of Search: 707769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3329 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90335 Query processing

Abstract

Among other things, this document describes a computer-implemented method for storing and retrieving information about the locations of objects. The method can include receiving a first query that includes one or more terms identifying an object. The first query can be determined to include a command to store location information for the object. The first query can be parsed to determine identifying information for the object, and a location can be determined for the object. The method further includes identifying one or more attributes of the object that are not specified in the first query, and causing a first set of data to be stored that characterizes the identifying information for the objet, the location of the object, and the one or more attributes of the object.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at a first time, a first query that includes one or more first terms that describe a physical object;

determining that the first query represents a command to store location information for the physical object;

parsing the first query to determine identifying information for the physical object, and determining, from the first query or a context of the first query, a location of the physical object;

generating a first node in a data structure, the first node representing the physical object;

linking the first node in the data structure to a second node in the data structure, the second node representing the location of the physical object;

identifying an attribute of the physical object by accessing data that identifies one or more facts or categories of the physical object, wherein the identified attribute is not specified in the first query;

associating the first node that represents the physical object with the identified attribute of the physical object;

receiving, from a user device at a second time that is after the first time, a second query that represents a command to retrieve the location of the physical object, the second query including one or more second terms that describe the identified attribute of the physical object;

in response to receiving the second query that represents the command to retrieve the location of the physical object, determining the location of the physical object based on (i) the identified attribute of the physical object being associated with the first node in the data structure that represents the physical object and (ii) the first node being linked to the second node in the data structure that represents the location of the physical object; and

providing, to the user device as a response to the second query, an indication of the location of the physical object,

wherein the user device is configured to display a representation of the location of the physical object in a graphical interface shown on an electronic display of the user device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the physical object corresponds to one or more entities in the data structure of entities, wherein the data structure includes representations of a plurality of entities and maps relationships among particular ones of the plurality of entities;

wherein identifying the attribute of the physical object that is not specified in the first query comprises selecting the one or more facts or categories based on the one or more facts or categories being associated with the one or more entities in the data structure to which the physical object is determined to correspond.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising storing the data for the physical object in a personal objects data structure associated with a particular user account, wherein the personal objects data structure:

(i) includes representations of one or more physical objects and one or more locations, and

(ii) maps relationships among particular ones of the one or more physical objects and the one or more locations.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the personal objects data structure maps the relationships so as to indicate at least a last known location for particular ones of the one or more physical objects.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising receiving a third query that comprises a command to update information about the physical object, and wherein performing the command of the third query comprises updating the data stored for the physical object in the personal objects data structure.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the command to update the information about the physical object comprises an indication that the physical object is located at a new location, and wherein updating the data stored for the physical object in the personal objects data structure comprises updating the stored location information for the physical object to specify the new location of the physical object.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first query further includes one or more third terms that identify the location of the physical object.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the one or more third terms that identify the location of the physical object comprise one or more third terms that specify a geographical location of the physical object.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first query further includes one or more third terms that identify a person or an organization with whom the physical object has been left, and wherein the method further comprises:

associating the person or the organization with whom the physical object has been left with a contact from an account of a user;

detecting a user interaction with the contact that is associated with the person or the organization with whom the physical object has been left; and

in response to detecting the user interaction with the contact, causing a notification to be presented to the user pertaining to the physical object.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining that a user device is located within a threshold distance of the location of the physical object, and in response, causing the user device to display the representation of the location of the physical object in the graphical interface.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first query does not include information that identifies the location of the physical object in content of the first query, and wherein the location of the physical object is determined based on a current location of a computing device at which the first query was originally entered or spoken.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first query specifies that a user has left the physical object at the location of the physical object, a third received query specifies that the physical object has been returned to the user, and performing a command specified by the third received query comprises causing information to be stored that indicates that the physical object is no longer located at the location of the physical object identified in the first query.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to determining that the physical object is no longer located at the location of the physical object, causing a notification to be presented to a user that includes a reminder about one or more events associated with the physical object.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying one or more attributes of the location of the physical object that are not specified in the first query.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second query does not include any of the one or more first terms that described the physical object in the first query.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a third query that includes one or more third terms that describe a second physical object;

determining that the third query represents a command to store location information for the second physical object;

parsing the third query to determine identifying information for the second physical object;

determining, from the third query or a context of the third query, a location of the second physical object;

generating a third node in the data structure, the third node representing the second physical object; and

linking the third node in the data structure to a fourth node in the data structure, the fourth node representing the location of the second physical object.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the location of the physical object is a geographic location.

18. One or more computer-readable devices having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of operations comprising:

receiving, at a first time, a first query that includes one or more first terms that describe a physical object;

determining that the first query represents a command to store location information for the physical object;

parsing the first query to determine identifying information for the physical object, and determining, from the first query or a context of the first query, a location of the physical object;

generating a first node in a data structure, the first node representing the physical object;

linking the first node in the data structure to a second node in the data structure, the second node representing the location of the physical object;

identifying an attribute of the physical object by accessing data that identifies one or more facts or categories of the physical object, wherein the identified attribute is not specified in the first query;

associating the first node that represents the physical object with the identified attribute of the physical object;

receiving, from a user device at a second time that is after the first time, a second query that represents a command to retrieve the location of the physical object, the second query including one or more second terms that describe the identified attribute of the physical object;

in response to receiving the second query that represents the command to retrieve the location of the physical object, determining the location of the physical object based on (i) the identified attribute of the physical object being associated with the first node in the data structure that represents the physical object and (ii) the first node being linked to the second node in the data structure that represents the location of the physical object; and

providing, to the user device as a response to the second query, an indication of the location of the physical object,

wherein the user device is configured to display a representation of the location of the physical object in a graphical interface shown on an electronic display of the user device.

19. A computing system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable devices having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performance of operations comprising;

receiving, at a first time, a first query that includes one or more first terms that describe a physical object;

determining that the first query represents a command to store location information for the physical object;

parsing the first query to determine identifying information for the physical object, and determining, from the first query or a context of the first query, a location of the physical object;

generating a first node in a data structure, the first node representing the physical object;

linking the first node in the data structure to a second node in the data structure, the second node representing the location of the physical object;

identifying an attribute of the physical object by accessing that identifies one or more facts or categories of the physical object, wherein the identified attribute that is not specified in the first query;

associating the first node that represents the physical object with the identified attribute of the physical object;

receiving, from a user device at a second time that is after the first time, a second query that represents a command to retrieve the location of the physical object, the second query including one or more second terms that describe the identified attribute of the physical object;

in response to receiving the second query that represents the command to retrieve the location of the physical object, determining the location of the physical object based on (i) the identified attribute of the physical object being associated with the first node in the data structure that represents the physical object and (ii) the first node being linked to the second node in the data structure that represents the location of the physical object; and

providing, to the user device as a response to the second query, an indication of the location of the physical object,

wherein the user device is configured to display a representation of the location of the physical object in a graphical interface shown on an electronic display of the user device.